Never Gone
by RLS
Summary: He lost them both. And it was all his fault. Oneshot. LinkMidna


**Well, here we are again.**

**And guess who beat the new Zelda game.**

**Yep. That's right. ME.**

**Haha, I'm so proud of myself right now. I beat it not more than 20 minutes ago and I've been inspired to write a fic. Don't kill me, but I'm (at the moment) in love with the pairing Link/Midna. Amazing, right? I love it more than Link/Zelda right now. XD **

**This fic is more of a Link/Midna "friendship" rather than romance. I thought that they were more attached in a mutual way rather than a romantic way. No hugging, no holding hands, just leaning on each other. XD**

**Just as a warning, some of the content in this fic WILL be from the last half of the game, so I would suggest waiting until you at least beat it before you read it. Don't say I didn't warn you. oo**

**Summary: He dirtied his hands with her blood…she was lost in her own power…he lost them both. And it was all his fault. Oneshot. Link/Midna**

**Disclaimer: Midna, Link, Zelda, Ganondorf and everyone else are copyright of Nintendo. I own absolutely nothing. **

o-o-o-o-o-o

Never Gone

By: RLS

The night was quiet except for the light sound of paws meeting earth.

A wolf ran through a field, tears mixing with the blood on his face and falling to the ground. His eyes were half closed in fatigue, his dry tongue lolling out of the side of his muzzle, tasting the blood dripping from his face. His chest stung each time he took a breath. He couldn't take it. His eyes squeezed shut. His teeth clenched. His muscles cramped.

He tripped over himself, sliding across the ground a bit before coming to a stop and laying still, dust trailing behind him from the force of his body hitting the ground.

Dust got into his wounds and caused them to sting horribly, and he winced. His chest heaved as he gasped for the air he couldn't seem to find. His paws were bleeding from hours of running. He reached to lick them, but his body forced him to stop. Every part of his body ached and stung. A large gash ran from his right hip to his right shoulder, and a few other cuts and bruises covered the rest of his body. His right ear was in shreds and a large gaping hole was on his left side.

Despite the physical pain, the mental pain of losing them was even more excruciating.

He blamed himself for all of it.

How could he have fallen for Ganon's tricks? How could he have let him trick him into killing her?

And then, he let her take the hit for him.

Both of them were dead. And it was all his fault.

_An impish laugh echoed from the walls, eerily filling the room with its sound._

_A wolf, bloody and beaten, forced itself to its feet, staring her in the eye._

"_Zelda…don't do this…I know this isn't you…you have to fight him, you have to break free from him…"_

_She sneered._

"_Foolish beast." She raised her sword above him. He could do nothing but slowly look up at her, his eyes searching her lifeless ones for any sign of her real self._

"_You're too late." Her voice was spoken deep; Ganondorf. He growled and closed his eyes, realizing that he spoke the truth. He had been too late to save her. And now all he could do was await death._

_The sound of a plunging sword hitting flesh was enough to make him open his eyes, for he felt no pain._

_A lifeless, small, dark body lay bloody on the ground before him, sword sticking out of the chest area. His eyes widened, his breath stopped._

"_Midna…"_

Tears flowed from his eyes again, falling to the ground and forming a small puddle around his head, soaking into his torn ear and causing it to sting. He didn't care. The physical pain was gone. All that ailed him was the pain of losing a best friend, the only real person he considered a "friend".

If it wasn't for her, he would be dead. No doubt about it.

His wounds suddenly stung like mad, and he grunted loudly, letting his head drop in the dirt with a soft thud. His teeth clenched together in a futile way to try and stop the pain. He could feel his heart pounding against his ribs.

His vision blurred. He closed his eyes. Darkness.

o-o-o-o-o-o

Sunlight burned against his eyelids, instantly waking him up. He slowly opened his eyes and instinctively tried to stretch, but his already stiff muscles cramped and refused to move. He let out a howl of pain and lay his head down, waiting for the pain to subside.

The gash on his side had crusted over with infection, and was just about as painful as it was gruesome. His eyes averted, and although his vision was still blurry, he could make out a dark object looming over him. He squinted, but he still couldn't make out who or what it was.

The object drew closer. He growled and snapped at it defensively, leaving a small but painful mark. It hissed in pain and backed up.

"Do you need to do that every time I try and help you?"

His eyes widened. He knew that voice.

"Midna?"

"Shh." She silenced him by placing a gentle hand on his muzzle, careful not to hurt him. She looked over his wounds, a look of grief on her face. "Look what he did to you…" She sighed.

He attempted to lift his head to look at her, but a biting pain in his neck forced him to let it drop back down. He grunted in pain. He was breathing abnormally, and he could hardly take the pain from his wounds. Midna's expression fell. Taking his head gently, she sat down and placed it in her lap, gently and slowly stroking the top of his head as if to try and ease his suffering.

He sighed almost contently and closed his eyes, trying to forget about the pain and focus on the fact that she had survived the blow. But, what became of Zelda?

His eyes looked up at her. "W-what about Zelda? Did she make it?"

She suddenly stopped stroking his head, and he felt a tear drop on him.

"No…" His heart dropped in his chest at that word. "And I think that I am partially to blame."

_Link ran out of the castle, his grief overcoming his body, and jumped over the railing of the balcony. He didn't care what was below him, rather it be water or a concrete floor. Maybe the river would throw him violently into a boulder. Maybe the concrete would smash against his skull, ending this nightmare for good. _

_He couldn't take the sight of her lifeless body and the pain of knowing that she was dead because of him. He couldn't stand there, bloody and torn, and fight for something that he knew he could not win back._

_He had to end it. Now. And he didn't care how._

_He closed his eyes, letting gravity pull him towards solid ground. He blanked out, the rush of the air rippling his body and fur like a rag doll as he plummeted towards the Earth._

_Midna's eyes shot open. A pain surged through her chest, and her hands reached to touch it, but she felt nothing but cold metal. She moaned in pain and focused her eyes on the sword sticking out of her chest. Seeing the extent of the injury, she wondered why it had not killed her._

_The memory of what happened came back to her._

_She had taken the blow for Link. Zelda had plunged the blade into her chest instead of Link's._

_What was keeping her alive?_

_Suddenly, three stone-like puzzle pieces rose from the ground and floated toward her, slowly circling her head. She gasped._

"_The Fused Shadows…?" How could they possibly have saved her? She knew the power that they gave her, but she had no idea that they also gave her immortality._

_She remembered. Her eyes darting around the room, she finally spotted her. She was nothing more than a crumpled, bloody pile of flesh and cloth. Midna had to shut her eyes and look away. There was no use in staying here any longer. Zelda had sacrificed her own life for the rest of Hyrule, and there was nothing that she could do about it._

_Grabbing the hilt of the sword with both hands, she swiftly wretched it out of her chest with a painful scream and tossed it aside. She lay on her stomach, bleeding profusely from the wound. The Fused Shadows that were once circling her head were now floating towards her wound. Something told her to push them away and let herself die, but another part of her made her keep still and see what would happen._

_The pieces fused together in mid-air and, with one touch, slowly and painlessly stretched her skin over her open wound and sealed it shut in a flash of light. Her eyes widened in disbelief. How could something so sinister and evil save her life? Perhaps the Fused Shadows were even more powerful than she thought they would be._

_Getting to her feet, she ran over to the balcony and peered over the edge. There she saw him, laying hundreds of yards away, his gray fur mixed with the red tint of his own blood. She knew she had to get to him fast. _

_Calling upon the power of the Fused Shadows, she teleported herself to his spot and ran towards him. She saw his chest rising up and down, and she breathed a sigh of relief knowing that he was indeed still alive…_

His ears lay flat against his head in sadness and he snuggled up against her stomach. Zelda was gone. He knew that it was not Midna's fault. In fact, the only person that could be blamed for these happenings was Ganondorf himself. Thankfully, despite the grief of losing Zelda, there also was a feeling of accomplishment for finally ridding Hyrule of Ganondorf's vile clutches.

Midna once again began to stroke his head, sighing, trying to forget the fact that Zelda was dead. His fur was crusty and knotted with blood, but she ignored it. All that mattered to her now was getting help for him. She knew that his wounds wouldn't heal well on their own.

Gently, she lifted his head off her lap and laid it on the ground before standing up.

"Can you walk?"

He gathered his legs under his body and tried to push himself up, but he only collapsed to the ground again with a thud. He huffed loudly.

Midna nodded and used her power to teleport them to Ordon, specifically to his house.

o-o-o-o-o-o

Once there, she used her powers to lay him gently on the rug in front of the fireplace. She took one last look at his wounds before placing a blanket over him for comfort. He looked up at her, and she gave him a reassuring smile before running her hand softly over the fur on his head. His tail wagged slowly, causing her to smile wider.

"Rest. You need it."

He nodded, not saying a word, just closing his eyes; falling asleep almost instantly. He would sleep well tonight knowing that she was safe, alive, and with him.

Looking him over once again, she noticed a small protrusion on his forehead and leaned over him to look at it. It looked almost like a sharp piece of rock. Using her fingers, and being careful not to awaken him, she pulled it out. Surprisingly, it left no wound or mark on his forehead.

She looked at the object quizzically, twirling it in her fingers. She placed it on a nearby dresser to be looked at later. When she looked back at Link, he was no longer a wolf; rather, he was in his human form. She smiled and bent down to him, kissing him once on the cheek. He stirred a bit in his sleep, though a small smile appeared on his lips.

"Don't you worry anymore…I'll always be here."

She smiled, and disappeared into his shadow on the floor.

_**The things we did, the things we said  
Keep coming back to me and make me smile again  
You showed me how to face the truth  
Everything that's good in me I owe to you**_

Though the distance that's between us   
Now may seem to be too far  
It will never separate us  
Deep inside I know you are

Never gone, never far  
In my heart is where you are  
Always close, everyday  
Every step along the way  
Even though for now we've gotta say goodbye  
I know you will be forever in my life (yeah)  
Never gone

o-o-o-o-o-o

**Total editing time: 287 minutes**

**Holy. Freaking. Mother.**

**I didn't think I had that long of an attention span. XD Oh well, I'm kinda proud of this. Not much though, it seemed a little rushed when I read through it.**

**Anyway, let me know what you think. )**


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